1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for marketing financial products such as individual insurance policies. More specifically, it relates to apparatus and methods for marketing such products in a fully automated or significantly automated manner to achieve high volumes of transactions and sales in a short period of time.
2. Description of the Related Art
Financial products such as life insurance products, health insurance products, and the like traditionally have been marketed largely through the use of agents. The product providers, such as the insurance companies actually providing the insurance, rely upon the agents to perform a host of essential tasks to sell their products. The agents, for example, typically identify prospective clients ("prospects") and communicate with these prospects to determine which of the various financial products are appropriate for that individual. A "prospective client" or "client" as used in this document refers to a person, company, or other entity to whom a financial product has never before been sold by the system user of marketer, and an existing client of that user or marketer which has purchased financial products in the past and for which a client record has been created in the client database as described more fully below. In a representative case, for example, the agent obtains a limited amount of basic or "lead" information about the prospective client from which to initiate the marketing contact. In the case of a mortgage insurance policy, for example, the agent may obtain the type of information included in a recorded deed instrument, including the potential client's name, address, age, and mortgage amount. From this lead information, the agent typically would prepare introductory materials, and contact the prospective client by telephone to solicit a meeting in the client's home or business. The agent then would meet with the client and attempt to propose financial products most suitable for the particular circumstances.
There have been several attempts in recent years to mass market term life insurance products. A typical format would be as follows. The marketer generally places ads directed to the general public which provide either an (800) telephone number or a return postcard. Through either a return call from the prospective client or the return postcard from the prospective client, lead information is obtained, including the name, age, and smoker versus nonsmoker status of the client, and the amount of term insurance desired. From this lead information, the marketer selects from the term life insurance products available to it. In some instances, the marketer may select several products offering low premiums and provide them to the client, for example, in table format, for selections by the client. The marketer then includes these product selections in a presentation letter which is sent to the prospective client. The presentation letter typically will list as the addressee the client, and it will provide the lead information at the introduction of the letter.
Regardless of the marketing techniques, gaining the consideration of the prospective client may require global follow-up in the form of multiple letters or other contacts, perhaps staged over a period of time selected by the agent as appropriate for the circumstances. Over this time period, the circumstances and needs of the prospective client may have changed, perhaps in ways that are somewhat predictable based on the initial lead information. For example, shortly after purchase of a new home and recording of the mortgage, the new homeowner may have a cash flow shortage which limits the attractiveness of mortgage insurance. Perhaps one year later, however, after the family is settled in and the various expenses of new home ownership have been accommodated, the homeowner may have a better cash flow situation and be far more inclined to purchase this type of insurance. Therefore, a followup presentation letter a year or so after the initial home purchase would be very timely and beneficial.
For those prospective clients who have responded to the presentation materials, the agent might seek additional client information, for example, such as their marital status, whether they smoke, their general health, etc. This would enable the agent to further refine or revisit the financial products selected for consideration by that prospective client. It hopefully results in the final selection of the particular product best suited for that client.
Upon approval by the prospective client, the agent or marketer then prepares an application to the provider for the selected financial product. Depending upon the financial product involved, the agent may be required to follow up, for example, by ordering medial reports, medical exams, etc., for the provider or underwriter.
Marketing processes such as the ones described above have been substantially limited in that they require significant amounts of the agent's or an agent telemarketer's time and attention. Moreover, the market for these products in terms of potential clients numbers in the millions per year. Each client has particularized circumstances and needs, and these circumstances and needs typically vary over time. The variety of financial products, even for a given need, is substantial. Considering all of these factors, the volume of transactions that can be undertaken by a given agent or agent telemarketer is relatively limited.
Attempts have been made in the past to automate limited portions of the various marketing tasks. It is not uncommon, for example, for insurance marketing organizations to maintain a database of potential clients and related client and prospective client information. Most insurance marketing companies also maintain databases of insurance products and related pricing information.
There are some insurance marketing companies, for example, which use computer software to select a set of candidate financial products from a larger set of possible products based upon premium prices. Some of the mass marketing organizations referred to above are examples.
In systems used by several mass marketers selling term life insurance, usually in conjunction with a telemarketer on the telephone, for example, the agent or an assistant enters lead client information into a computer, whereupon the software selects and displays the four or five term insurance policies offering the desired level of coverage for the lowest premium cost. The client information, together with the selected financial product information, then can be used to prepare introductory materials such as a presentation letter to the potential client, as previously described. The product selection and presentation letter preparation are done automatically.
Such known automated systems, however, have been subject to a number of important limitations and drawbacks. For example, they have been limited largely if not entirely to one of two major types (term of permanent) or product, i.e., term life insurance. The ability of these software systems to select from among alternative financial products has been extremely primitive. In most instances, the ability of the system is limited to selections based solely or predominantly on the insurance premium. They also typically require the attention of and interaction with the agent or telemarketer to gather and input the lead client information, and to aid in the selection of the most advantageous products for presentation to the client.
Another important drawback of such known systems is the limited extent to which they personalize the presentation letter or other communications. The presentation letter resulting from such systems usually is a form letter which merely lists the client information at the top of the letter, lists the product or products selected, and provides a brief non-individualized description or explanation of the product. The extent to which the communications take into account the particular circumstances and needs of the individual prospective client including individualized explanations necessary to make an informed decision about the highlighted products, has been extremely limited.
These known systems also are limited in their ability to process large volumes of prospective client communications. This is attributable in large part to their requirement for human input and decision making as a necessary part of their operation, and because of the relatively unsophisticated nature of the known systems.
All of these methods and systems have been limited in that they require a substantial amount of human involvement. This necessitates substantial cost for wages, salaries, benefits, etc., and it can increase the likelihood of errors.
3. Objects of the Invention
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for transacting financial product marketing and sales which is capable of being highly automated.
Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus and method for transacting financial product marketing and sales which is capable of processing relatively large volumes of client communications efficiently.
Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus and method for transacting financial product marketing and sales which are relatively cost effective compared to prior approaches.
Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus and method for transacting financial product marketing and sales which are more personalized and individualized to individual prospective clients relative to prior approaches.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations pointed out in the appended claims.